


Hope

by Jokul_Nightfury_Frost



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Cancer, Cancer fighters are brave and strong, Child Abandonment, Connected to Another Fic, Gen, I was given permission to write this, I wrote this in less than a day, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Mentioned Loz, Mentioned Yazoo in a relationship, One Shot, Other, Reiku is Riku Replica's name in this, Riku Replica & Xion Friendship, Riku Replica Has a Different Name (Kingdom Hearts), Some content may be inaccurate, Terra is a big sister, Vanitas and Ventus make a cameo, Vexen is a doctor, Yazoo is a doctor, because I freaken ship it!, mini RepliVan moment, no beta we die like men
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-10
Updated: 2019-12-10
Packaged: 2021-02-25 22:55:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,376
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21743335
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jokul_Nightfury_Frost/pseuds/Jokul_Nightfury_Frost
Summary: His first memory was of the hospital that was his home. He wasn't perfect, so he wasn't wanted. If he could have a friend, just one friend, he would be happy and ask for nothing else. But meeting one little girl plants the seeds of the strongest weapon one could use when facing the claws and fangs of life: Hope.
Relationships: Riku Replica & Xion (Kingdom Hearts)
Comments: 21
Kudos: 35





	Hope

**Author's Note:**

  * For [LetoaSai](https://archiveofourown.org/users/LetoaSai/gifts).
  * Inspired by [Out of Order](https://archiveofourown.org/works/15915372) by [LetoaSai](https://archiveofourown.org/users/LetoaSai/pseuds/LetoaSai). 



> The StrifeHart Fluff series by LetoaSai inspired this little story.  
> They said they felt honored I wanted to write a story inspired by their work, but I still get the feeling they may curse my name simply because they keep wanting to end their series (that is so fecken awesome and filled with feels) but keep coming up with ideas.  
> Oh well, I regret nothing either way.

The hospital was all he ever knew growing up.  
His very first memory that he could recall was a compilation of the stiff mattress that was his bed, the constant _beep, beep, beep _of the heart monitor attached to him, the sterile smell of the air, the IV needles in his arm, and the pain of chemotherapy. The only people who came to see him was the doctor assigned to him, a sort of creepy but nice man named Vexen Frost, and the nurses who checked on him through the day. Once in a while there would be volunteers who came to make him, along with the other child occupants of the pediatric ward, smile and forget their woes if only for a day; he especially liked when they brought the dogs. He wanted a dog. He did wonder about his parents though, he wondered why they never came to see him in the hospital, until he had been told by Vexen that they had left him there as a baby after he was diagnosed with leukemia. He was five when he had learned that information.  
When he was six, he had met a girl on one of his good days when he was able to go outside. She was shy, but her smile was sweet; she had short, black hair, and blue eyes. He thought she was sick like he was because she was pale and thin like him, a side-affect of the chemo. He thought she was just starting her treatment because she still had all her hair while his had fallen out by the time he was two.  
“My name’s Reiku. What’s you name?” he asked.  
“I’m Xion. Hi.” She answered.  
Reiku held up the ball in his hands, “Want to play?”  
He never really had the chance to make friends due to constantly being bedridden from his treatments, so he would make the most of the chance. If he could have just one friend his age, he’d be happy.  
Xion’s small, but sweet smile grew a little bigger and she nodded causing Reiku to smile along with her. He went to stand not too far from her and tossed the ball to her the way he had been taught by a nurse the last time he was able to come outside; that had felt so long ago to him. They smiled brightly when Xion caught the ball and tossed him back the same way and Reiku caught it on a bounce.  
“Are you sick too, Xion?” he asked as they continued their game.  
“Sick?” she asked curiously.  
“Uh-huh. Vexen said I have leukemia. It’s a cancer I was born with. That’s why I live here.” He explained from what he remembered being told.  
“No, I don’t think so. I was told I had to stay here for a little while because I haven’t been outside a lot and didn’t eat as much as I need to.” She said.  
When Reiku caught the ball again, he didn’t toss it back suddenly feeling sad.  
“So, you will leave soon?”  
Xion frowned suddenly feeling guilty at his heartbroken expression. She went over and hugged him, something the couple who brought her here had done for him and it made her feel good.  
“Please don’t be sad. I like your smile.”  
“I don’t want you to leave. You’re the first friend I ever made.” He said feeling tears well up in his eyes.  
The girl pulled back to look at him smiling like the sun, “You’re my first friend too.”  
Reiku blinked in surprise, “I am? But you’re so nice. Nice people have a lot of friends, Terra told me so.”  
He was referring to one of his nurses, Terra Branford; she was a pretty woman with curly, green hair that she kept tied in a high ponytail with bright ribbons and beads.  
“I haven’t been outside a lot, remember?” she giggled.  
He blushed in embarrassment at the reminder, “Oh. Right.”  
ꭓ ♥ ꭓ  
Having Xion as a friend was nice; she was a constant at his side, and a comfort after his chemo treatments. Vexen liked seeing his charge with another child; none of the cancer or terminal patients could really interact with each other due to everything they underwent in terms of treatment. The kids only there for more minor ailments in comparison to the long-term patients never really paid much mind because they had their parents at their sides getting them excited for what they would do together once they were done with the hospital. The nurses tried to encourage friendships between all the children, but there was always one drawback or another that got in the way. It was heartbreaking.  
It was true that Xion herself was one of the temporary patients they likely wouldn’t see again, but it was still nice to see the two children bonding anyway. And the couple who currently had Xion in their custody was kind to Reiku as well; they had come one day and brought the boy a midnight purple headscarf explaining that a lot of cancer patients wore them after their hair fell out. Reiku had loved it saying it made him feel like a pirate.  
Terra, and a few other nurses had taken to teaching the children to make lanyards and charms with plastic string and beads, and Terra had made a matching set of friendship charms for Reiku and Xion when came time for the girl to leave. She was now a healthy weight and gained a peaches and cream skin tone; neither child was happy that they would have to say goodbye soon, but Xion couldn’t just stay there. Terra had used blue as the common color for the two charms adding black and white to Xion’s, and purple and red to Reiku’s. At the ends of the lanyard charms were star charms usually put on bracelets; Reiku’s had an emerald per his birthstone, and Xion’s had a pearl.  
“As long as you have these, even if you don’t recognize each other when you one day meet again, you’ll always remember your time together.” She explained.  
“Thank you, Terra!” they exclaimed hugging her tightly.  
Terra squealed as she hugged them back, “You two are so cute!”  
Xion still had a few days left in her stay, but not long after receiving their friendship charms Reiku had another chemo session. It was among one of the worse aftermaths he had; he spent a majority of the time sleeping and was near catatonic when he was awake only able to keep broth down. When he recovered, Xion was gone leaving a drawing of them playing ball and holding their charms. Reiku cried himself to sleep for a week at not being able to say goodbye.  
ꭓ ♥ ꭓ  
Reiku was now eight, and no closer to entering remission from his illness. Many doctors had told him he was lucky to come this far living with a disease that would soon kill him, that it warmed their hearts that Vexen was so dedicated to saving his life. In the last year, Reiku had met another doctor who seemed to captivate him; he was a young man with long, silver hair, and green eyes. His name was Yazoo Crescent, he was Vexen’s intern and really nice. He made a point to get to know all the children he would be working with, answered their questions as simply as he could so the patients understood why they were in the hospital. They needed better than, “You’re very sick, but we’re going to help you get better.”  
When he talked to Reiku, there was a sense of kinship between them; Yazoo had three brothers and they all grew up orphans, barely able to stay together. Reiku had been abandoned, and Yazoo told him that people could be so shallow and heartless that they didn’t care if they gave up their own children if they were anything less than perfect by their standards. Reiku was born sick, so he wasn’t perfect. Because he wasn’t perfect, his parents didn’t want him.  
Yazoo looked Reiku right in the eye and told him, “You are a brave, strong, special person. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but some day someone will come and help you beat this. You will grow up strong and make your parents regret giving you up. You’ll have a big family who will make you happy, and you’ll do your best to make them happy too.”  
“How do you know?” Reiku asked.  
“Because my brothers and I are doing exactly that the best we can. I even have a boyfriend.”  
“Really? And you think I’ll make it?”  
“There are a lot of people who are doing the best they can to make sure you will. I came to help them do it. You, and all the other kids who haven’t given up yet. If anything, everyone in this hospital you’ve known all your life are kind of like your family too.”  
Just knowing that seemed to brighten Reiku’s spirit; he took his chemotherapy with a braver face and started setting goals for himself to reach when he got better.  
ꭓ ♥ ꭓ  
It was one of his better days; Reiku was with some of the other children in the game room when he saw two knew kids escorted in by Terra. One had blond hair that was in sideways up-sweep, and they other had black hair with spikes all over the place; the blond had blue eyes that reminded him of Xion, and the other had gold eyes. They went off to the side of the room away from everyone and keeping close to each other; their eyes darted all over the room as if they expected something bad to happen and they wanted to be ready to run if needed. He could see hints of dark skin under their clothes in some places that he knew were bruises because he got them easily sometimes. For a moment he wondered if they were cancer kids too, but they didn’t look like him or any of the other sick kids he’d seen over the years. Maybe they were like Xion: only there for a short time.  
He debated for a little bit if he should go over and talk to them, but another nurse came and found him for another chemo session. As he was led away, he watched the two boys and his aquamarine eyes met gold for a brief moment before it was broken by the wall of the hallway; he suddenly had a sense of hope he couldn’t really explain, but he was going to use it to push through this coming treatment.  
ꭓ ♥ ꭓ  
Reiku’s ninth birthday had come and gone. Still living with cancer, still looking for a bone marrow donor to save his life, now teetering on the edge of terminal cancer, but still not ready to give up. He refused.  
These days, one of his constant companions was a black lab puppy he named Shadow, given to him on his birthday by Yazoo’s brother, Loz; Yazoo nearly went ballistic saying he could lose his job. Thankfully, the puppy Loz gifted him was a trained comfort pet like the ones the volunteers brought in. It was getting harder for Reiku to be able to get out of bed now, but Shadow made him smile and bear the day. His head scarf had been replaced with an identical one, the original now around Shadow’s neck with her collar and license.  
He was looking at his ever-present charm that he now wore on a chain around his neck when Yazoo and Vexen came in.  
“Reiku, there are a couple of gentlemen here to see you.” Vexen said.  
“Why?” Reiku asked curiously.  
“Remember Xion?”  
“Yes.” The boy nodded.  
“They want to talk to you about her. They hope you can help.”  
“Okay.”  
It had been a long time since he last saw Xion, but he always spared a few minutes to remember her here and there every day; she was special because she was his first friend. He wondered if they knew where she was and if they could help them meet again.  
The people who came in were two men; one had blue-green eyes almost similar to Yazoo’s, and red hair, and the other had blue eyes like a storm, brown hair just passed his shoulders, and a diagonal scar between his eyes. The man with the scar showed no discernable emotion other than his eyes widening when he looked at Reiku causing the boy to feel curious; had he not seen a child cancer patient before?  
“Hello, Reiku. My name is Genesis, and this is Leon. We’re glad you agreed to see us.” The redhead said giving a friendly smile.  
“Vexen said you wanted to ask about Xion. Do you know her?” Reiku asked hopefully.  
The men shook their heads negatively causing the boy to deflate.  
“But we are looking for her. She has two older brothers who want to see her again. If you know anything that could help, we would greatly appreciate the information.” Leon said.  
His hope was reignited, “If you find her, will you bring her to see me?”  
“You got a deal, kiddo. So, tell us anything and everything you know.” Genesis said pulling out a pen and notepad.  
Reiku told them the whole story of how he had met Xion, described the people who were taking care of her at the time to the best of his memory and told them how they bought him his first head scarf, how she was constantly at his side especially after chemo sessions, how Terra had made them matching lanyard charms that would help them remember each other if they ever met again, and even showed them the drawing she left him before she was discharged. Genesis wrote down everything he needed as quickly as his could and nodded as Reiku finished.  
“This is more than we had to start with. Thank you, Reiku.”  
“Just please find her. That’s all I want.” The boy said.  
Leon nodded, “We promise.”  
With that, the two men left, but not before Reiku heard Leon say something that piqued his interest.  
“He looks like my son, Riku…”__

**Author's Note:**

> I dunno if LetoaSai did have a plan to explain why Riku had been abandoned as a baby, but I got the idea that he was a twin, and Reiku/Riku Replica happened to get dealt a bad hand that the parents didn't want to deal with and they abandoned Riku to avoid the possibility of him being sick being their responsibility too. And Cloud and Leon are having a hard time finding Xion for their newest set of twins, so I gave them a break.  
> I hope you enjoy this LetoaSai! Whether you want to include it in your lineup is your choice. Thanks for the opportunity!


End file.
